2014 was the worst, most painful, most difficult time of my entire life, and because of that, I swore that I would take charge of my life again and be successful. All through 2015 and 2016, I’ve definitely spent a lot of time dedicated to being extremely successful in my career.

In 2016, I crossed off three more states in the United States, which only leaves me two states left before I will have visited every one of the 50 states. I took a train from Chicago to Los Angeles and taking a train across the U.S. was a bucket list item and an adventure I would happily repeat in the future. I finished my MFA from SHU and even took the class to get my Teaching English as a Second Language certification. I even successfully completed National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) with over 50,000 words in a new novel I intend to market in June! I haven’t attempted nor finished NaNoWriMo since 2013, so this was actually a really huge thing for me. Rock climbing became more of an addiction and less of a hobby and between that, working out every day with a special trainer, and taking up jiu jitsu, I dropped at least two percent body fat and am at my ideal weight for myself.

I switched jobs and have learned so very much about everything that it often stuns me as to how I even pretended to function as an intelligent person prior to this. I returned from another successful extended research trip and I learned a lot there, too. My new job gives me a lot of freedom and I also have the ability to help a lot of people, which is really great.

I accomplished enough of the goals I set for 2016 that I feel like it was a successful year. I accomplished a lot of long-term goals and I made so much progress on so many things. While I do not know what 2017 will hold, I do know that I will fight the enemies of freedom with every last breath and I will defend the lives of those who are likely to struggle. I will approach 2017 with a sense of purpose and hope and I will support people to be better than they are and to work together to make the world a better place.

These were my goals from 2016, and how well I accomplished them:

I’d like to read a book a week and post a review of it. This should get me 52 newly read books at the end of 2016. I read 46 books and 6 graphic novels/comic books and therefore easily achieved my goal of reading 52 books.

I’d like to watch a movie a week and post a review about it. Which should also give me 52 movie reviews at the end of 2016. I only reviewed 22 movies in 2016 and I am completely okay with that because it means more of my time was spent actually living my life and less time was spent in front of a screen.

I’m going to finish Surveyors in the next couple of months. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had writing and even if it never gets a home with a publishing company, it’s a story that makes me smile while I write it, and that’s good enough for me. This is an ongoing process and I am okay with where Surveyors and Academy are both at right now.

If everything goes well, I’ll be graduating from SHU with my MFA in June. I totally did this! w00t!

I’d like to travel to the last five states in the upper northeastern part of the U.S. sometime this year, which means I will then have been to all 50 states. I missed Maine and Rhode Island because of time and traffic, but I’ll get there eventually.

I am going to get my Teaching English as a Second Language certification sometime early in 2016. I finally finished this whole process in November, but it’s done! w00t!

I think it would be great if I did at least 30 minutes of cardio every day during 2016. Oh, goodness, did I achieve this goal. If you read my previous paragraphs, you know that I very much did this and more. Total success.

I’d like to put closer to 10% of my earnings into savings for my retirement cabin during 2016. This is also mostly a success. My finances are doing quite well.

I’d like to attend the World Fantasy Convention 2016 in Ohio. This I did not accomplish and I didn’t even try because I had entirely too much going on and didn’t have the time in October to be away from work.

Above all things, I would very much like for Adventure Buddy to give our friendship another chance. This is probably going to be my main goal for the rest of my life, but it’s worth it.

Here’s what I’m looking at for 2017:

I’d like to read a book a week and post a review of it. This should get me 52 newly read books at the end of 2016.

I’d like to watch a movie a week and post a review about it. Which should also give me 52 movie reviews at the end of 2016.

Surveyors and Academy should both be ready to be pitched in June.

I intend on attending In Your Write Mind (IYWM) in June and hopefully even teaching a module.

I’d like to travel somewhere in the world and have a new adventure.

I am hoping and working towards moving up at work.

I think it would be great if I continued my workouts and maybe even lower my body fat percentage even more.

I’d like to continue to place about 10% of my earnings into savings for my retirement cabin during 2017.

I’d like to attend at least one convention in 2017, not including IYWM.

Above all things, I would very much like for Adventure Buddy to give our friendship another chance.